Mariners keep looking stronger in AL West as Angels commit to stepping on rakes

The Seattle Mariners are trying to build something sturdy enough to win the AL West. The Los Angeles Angels, bless their hearts, keep building a mood — specifically a “what if everything breaks right for us this time” mood. And the latest addition to the collection is Jordan Romano, who (per ESPN's Jeff Passan) agreed to a one-year deal with Los Angeles.

On paper, Romano is exactly the kind of move that sounds like it should make division rivals flinch. He’s been a legit late-inning weapon before. The problem is the Angels’ entire offseason reads like a scratch-off ticket roll: sure, one could hit… but we’ve seen this movie enough times to know the odds.

Mariners can’t help but notice the Angels doing it again

Because Romano — coming off a brutal 2025 season that ended with an 8.23 ERA — isn’t the only “please be 2022 again” swing in Anaheim. The Angels already took a gamble on Alek Manoah on a one-year deal, hoping another former star can recapture the old magic. They also traded for Grayson Rodriguez, a high-upside arm with team control, but with a whole lot of “we’ll see how his health looks” baked into the story. Then they grabbed Vaughn Grissom from Boston for infield depth — another “maybe we can fix it” type of bet.

And that’s where the “stepping on rakes” part kicks in. Not because these are bad players, but because the Angels keep stacking volatility like it’s a strategy. If one reclamation goes sideways, okay — every team takes fliers. If four have to work just for you to look normal… that’s not a plan, that’s a group project where nobody brought the poster board.

Meanwhile, this is exactly why we can look at the AL West and feel like the Mariners are trending the right way — even before we get into the fun parts. FanGraphs’ current Depth Charts WAR projections have Seattle sitting at 44.5 total WAR, while the Angels are down at 30.0 — and the only teams below them are the Nationals (29.4) and Rockies (18.5). 

It gets better for Mariners fans when you zoom out beyond the big-league roster. MLB Pipeline’s midseason farm system rankings had the Mariners sitting 3rd (with a boatload of Top 100 types), while the Angels were down at 27th. Translation: even if Anaheim’s scratch-offs don’t hit, they’re not exactly sitting on a stacked safety net.

None of this means we get to crown the Mariners in December. The Astros are still the Astros, the Rangers can spend their way into relevance at any moment, and the AL West is never short on chaos. But when one rival is trying to win the division with a stack of “remember when?” contracts and good vibes, it’s hard not to feel like the Mariners are at least acting like the adults in the room.